It’ll Be Alt-Right on the Night: 5 star review by Scott Blair

In the past 20 to 30 years, our world has drastically changed, especially within the realm of politics and culture. Wound Up Theatre’s It’ll Be Alt-Right on the Night is able to capture this vast change, frames it in punk rock and shows its effects on a personal level that succeeds phenomenally in presenting an electric and immersive experience.

A powerful and passionately-produced performance

It'll Be Alt-Right on the Night focuses on the lives of Greeny and Stevo covering their rough childhoods, their rebellious, punk adolescence and finally their modern day, vastly different lives as written and performed in different fragments by Matthew Greenhough with musical accompaniment of punk rock and jazz covers on trumpet by Steven Wright. Best friends in youth, Greenhough slowly piece together the lives of Greeny and Stevo who, united by punk rock, become distant and resentful due to their political leanings. One who believes in politically correct, liberal values which vastly differ from his Northern Family whilst the other begins to support the alt-right of new conservatism and personalities such as Donald Trump and Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (Tommy Robinson).

One of the massive strengths of the show is the writing and performance of Matthew Greenhough. He has written a one-man performance that feels genuine and real and as if these characters exist within the real world rather than within the realm of theatre. In his performance, his ability to change his stage persona and personality at the flip of a switch, portraying the vastly different perspectives of Greeny and Stevo, is outstanding. The staging was simple and covered in different records as well as a single record player with Wright, performing on the trumpet sitting in the corner of the stage. This felt perfect for the performance, providing a simple canvas for these characters to be projected onto, as well as the addition to good use of lighting to create different moods throughout. The interlude trumpet performances by Steven Wright should also be commended for adding to the mood and atmosphere.

It'll Be Alt-Right on the Night is a powerful and passionately-produced performance about friendship, relationship and the change. It’s powerful use of imagery and use of punk culture and music as well as natural and interesting perspective on modern politics and its effects really combine into something that is truly electric.

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Greeny and Stevo grew up punks – squats, dumpster-diving and PVA-glue-spiked hair. But they've changed. No, f*ck that, the world's changed. One's a social justice warrior, one's gone to the far right, and, in a world of trigger warnings and snowflakes, conservatism is the new punk rock. This 'powerful and passionately produced performance' ***** (BroadwayBaby.com), from the team behind Bismillah! An ISIS Tragicomedy features a jazz-punk score and a 20-year friendship ending in a Lidl carpark. Are they stupid? Dickheads? Or just on different sides of an impassable ideological divide. 'Blisteringly funny' **** (List).